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About Me

james o'toole's personal page...
lead singer of aortal...
i have survived for 9 years now on absolutely nothing except whatever i can earn on the streets with my guitar and voice...i made it to india and back...played lying on my back on a bus rooftop bouncing its way through the himalayas...to south africa twice...i played my way down to evian for the anti globalisation marches in 2003...
made it to london...sweden...germany... and i've avoided the 9 to 5 for seven years and despite the hard times dont intend to give in quite yet!...
i played covers on the street but thats only cos i haveta eat...not for pleasure or the pursuit of notoriety...but for necessity...and it meant that my original songs remained completely intact and pristine and dont get played into the ground during the daily grind...i've won myself time to develop as a musician that others never get...
i've had good times busking,there have been crowds and summer days, good money and i have met some lifelong friends...there have been some terrible times to...weeks of rain with no money and no hope in sight...i've had my nose broken twice and my teeth kicked in but i always get right back up...
and i always will....
now i'm working on my original stuff with conor friel and jay mcnamara and we're called 'aortal' after the main artery from the heart....
growing up in dublin's fatima mansions council flats has absolutely convinced me of the necessity to transform society and so i am also a committed marxist and revolutionary activist with the Socialist Workers Party...
www.socialistworker.co.uk
www.swp.ie
www.citycentresocialistworkers.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/citycentreswp
www.bebo.com/SWPirl
for info!


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My Interests

I'd like to meet:

radicals...poets...musicians....philosophers....
deserters from the industrial army...buskers...
socialists...anarchists...workers...

My Blog

budget 2009!

Socialist Worker Newsletter  7th April 2009Below you will find a briefing on a budget which will bring terrible suffering to working people. As we argue, the main agenda of this budget is to save the...
Posted by on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:20:00 GMT

AORTAL are no more

yeah..shock! horror! gasp! the band that was AORTAL are now nomore...and yep it's my (james's) fault..with the world economy set toshrink for the 1st time since 1945 and with governments slashing andb...
Posted by on Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:40:00 GMT

talk i gave on che guevara

Introduction on Che Guevara Marx always, rightly, emphasised that the emancipation of the working class is the act of the working class because, not only, is this a necessary precondition of politic...
Posted by on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:22:00 GMT

overview of the world economy.

The world in crisisThe world ruling classes are in a state of complete panic withGermanys Angela Merkel remarking that bankruptcy for entire states isnow not so far fetched.Job losses, bank collapses...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:25:00 GMT

marx

Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Karl MarxEstranged LabourWe have started out from the premises of political economy. We haveaccepted its language and its laws. We presupposed private p...
Posted by on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:56:00 GMT

a letter from ireland!

This weekend saw 120,000 workers march through the streets of Dublincalling for the withdrawal of the Fianna Fail governments 'pensionlevy'. The levy means that a public sector worker who earns 35,000...
Posted by on Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:55:00 GMT

revolution in the 21st century...

R is for Revolution is the 21st century(transcript of a talk i gave)When socialists talk about the possibility of revolution happening inthe 21st century its not about a mere desire for revolution on...
Posted by on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:52:00 GMT

surprise surprise RTE lies!

So i was watching the evening news on RTE, the irish state broadcaster,reporting from the IMPACT union's general meeting to discuss the new'pension levy' i.e. the new pay cut. Well RTE stated that the...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:36:00 GMT

the public private divide?

every petty right wing commentator, from 'questions and answers' onRTEtv, to the columnists of our daily papers, to the various members ofall the mainstream parties who pop up to voice their opinions ...
Posted by on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:10:00 GMT

what to do if you're about to be fired!!

Redundancy is a shocking experience.It disrupts your plans and hopes for your future.Your company is also conveying a message: We do not care about you  profit is all that counts. Of course, they don...
Posted by on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:02:00 GMT